I first met Sally Jenkins when we discovered both our books were to be published by The Book Guild, on the same day, January 28th 2018. We are not in competition, because our books are so different, she writes psychological thrillers and I write historical fiction.

Do these very different genres attract the same readers or do they remain completely separate? Today we introduce our blog readers to something different.

Welcome Sally:

Author Sally Jenkins

In 2017 18.7 million crime and thriller books were sold. This was an increase of 19 per cent over the previous two years. Even without the hard proof of these figures the popularity of dark fiction is obvious. Think about all those books with ‘Girl’ in the title, the influx of ‘noir’ TV box sets from Scandinavia and the emergence of a brand new fiction sub-genre, ‘grip lit’. Grip lit is a blend of women’s fiction and psychological thriller, usually written by women and about women. And women readers account for just over half of all crime and thriller sales – so we do like to be scared!

Our fascination with dark fiction can be likened to the attraction of a roller coaster. In the former, we clutch the pages, not daring to turn out the bedside light in case something goes bump in the night. On the latter we scream and shriek with every rise and fall of the track. In both cases, as soon as the experience is finished we want to do it all over again! Val McDermid is the queen of crime thriller writers and she says, “A crime-thriller gives you an adrenalin rush. It’s exciting, suspense-laden … But you know it’s fiction and that the protagonist is going to make it out okay in the end. We live in a society increasingly fragmented and alienated. People … find reassurance in crime-thrillers because they know that in the end the world will be put right.”

Do the authors of all these crime and thriller novels need evil, twisted personalities in order to generate the material for their novels? Being a writer of psychological thrillers myself, I plead that we are nice people! As with all authors we pluck our ideas from what we see in the world around us and then embellish, sharpen and polish them from our own unique perspective on the world. One of the continuing themes or perspectives in my own novels is how past happenings rarely stay in the past. They can explode into our present day lives without warning and turn everything upside down. In Bedsit Three the evil comes from Ignatius, who was brought up by a domineering mother. The effect of this on his behaviour is seen as the novel progresses. The other characters in the book are also influenced by their early years but they work for a more positive outcome, begging the question: nature or nurture?

When I started to write my second novel, The Promise, my mind again darted backwards and forwards in time. The plot which emerged centres around a promise made in prison thirty years ago. This promise must now be kept by the next generation and leads to a blackmail attempt …

I’m certain the popularity of crime and thriller fiction will continue to grow. Modern day life is full of uncertainty, upheaval and unsolved crime. Books where good eventually conquers evil (after giving the reader a scary ride!) get my vote every time.